We honor journalists who go the extra mile to report news “from the people who made Chicago, news that’s bottom up rather than up, down,” as Studs said at our 2007 awards event. “That’s what this is all about.”

Louis B. “Studs” Terkel, the “patron saint” of Community Media Workshop from its founding in 1989, gracefully and graciously led these tributes to a special kind of Chicago journalism — the kind that, in the words of Salim Muwakkil at the March 2009 event, “is more important now than ever before.”

Presented annually, the Studs Terkel Media Awards honor outstanding media professionals for excellence in covering and reflecting Chicago’s diverse communities. Terkel Awards highlight reporters who take risks in covering social issues by offering new or unusual perspectives on topics of general concern, from housing to neighborhood safety and beyond. The awards reward a body of work rather than a single article or series, and go to journalists at any stage of their career.

In addition to calling attention to the best journalism covering Chicago’s diverse communities, the awards provide significant support and underwriting for all of Community Media Workshop’s programmatic work, such as free communications coaching for nonprofits, Newstips, the Getting On Air, Online & Into Print guide, and more.